Minnesota U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen announced an eight-count felony indictment against 15 anti-ICE protesters Tuesday, centered on a broad “antifa”-inflected conspiracy.
During a Tuesday press conference, Rosen would not say whether any federal officers were actually harmed, despite one of the counts being conspiracy to impede or injure a federal officer and two of the counts being assault on a federal officer.
“Whether or not they actually at the end of the day caused bodily harm is not the measure of whether or not they committed a serious federal crime,” Rosen said.
The new indictment comes as federal prosecutors have had to dismiss over a third of their cases stemming from Operation Metro Surge — the inundation of Minneapolis with federal officers in late 2025 and early 2026 that included the officer killings of U.S. citizens Renée Good and Alex Pretti. The dismissed cases have predominantly centered on allegations of assaulting federal officers.
“Now the government is using its power, its unjustified power that’s illegitimate, to try and persecute the people who they were able to identify who were most involved in organizing the resistance, and organizing the non-violent, legal resistance to their fascism,” said defense attorney Jordan Kushner on Tuesday, per local CBS affiliate WCCO. “Let’s not sugar coat this, let’s be clear. This is a renewed fascist offensive against the people of the community.”
The first count of the new indictment, made against the entirety of the group, is conspiracy to impede or injure a federal officer. Most of the 94-page indictment is devoted to this charge, and includes messages from internal chats about planning blockades of the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building and monitoring ICE arrests as evidence. The indictment details such minutiae as group efforts to set up a GoFundMe account and various training sessions for new members of Direct Action Minnesota, a local grassroots protest group that the indictment describes as “an organization dedicated and committed to direct action against federal law and immigration enforcement.”
Two of the charges — solicitation to commit a crime of violence and interstate threats — are made against Kyle Wagner, a self-professed member of “antifa” who was previously arrested in February on federal threat and cyberstalking charges. Wagner had, per the indictment, posted on social media encouraging his followers to abandon peaceful protest and “get your fucking guns and stop these people.”
Isaac Auman Sant is charged with one count of interstate stalking for following a federal officer from the Whipple Building to Hudson, Wisconsin, where he was stopped and identified by St. Croix County deputies, according to the indictment.
Three charges are made against William Morgan. They include a similar interstate stalking charge: per the indictment, he followed a federal officer from the Whipple Building “to the area around the officer’s residence” in Hudson, Wisconsin before being stopped by local police. Morgan is also charged with assault on a federal officer and destruction of government property from an episode on May 15.
“On or about May 15, 2026, at approximately 10:20 a.m. to 11:26 a.m., HSI agents were performing their duties and conducting interviews,” the indictment says. “During this time, HSI agents noticed sandbags placed under the driver’s side front tire and passenger’s side rear tire of a government-issued vehicle.”
“Morgan then approached one of the agents and knocked the agent’s notes out of his hand. Morgan also kicked Government Vehicle 2 twice, causing dents,” it adds.
The indictment upgraded the destruction of government property charge to a felony, meaning that Morgan’s car kicking allegedly caused damage exceeding $1,000.
The last count charges Natasha Rakotz with assault on a federal officer.
“On or about May 18, 2026, a federal immigration official left the Whipple Building in his government-issued vehicle. Rakotz drove a Honda Civic and followed the federal immigration officer from the Whipple Building to the area of Minnesota State Highway 55 and Minnesota State Highway 5,” the indictment says. “Rakotz ‘brake checked’ the officer and ‘side swiped’ the officer’s vehicle, causing a collision.”
Per texts included in the indictment, Rakotz said that she was not taken into custody after the collision.
The Trump administration has struggled to convict those protesting federal officers nationwide, failing to secure indictments and watching cases fall apart in Chicago and Washington D.C. The administration has dabbled in escalating tactics, including using terrorism charges against those it perceives as political enemies.
In a recent, high-profile case, federal prosecutors had to dismiss charges against “the Broadview Six” in Chicago after transcripts revealed serious prosecutorial misconduct, including dismissing grand jurors who disagreed with the government’s case. The protesters’ defense attorneys are now pursuing sanctions.
Read the indictment here:
